Thursday, June 26, 2014

The Maharashtra government is actively considering abolishing local body tax (LBT) and octroi in the state and putting in their place a 2.5-3% surcharge on value added tax (VAT).

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said at an event on Tuesday that there is a strong demand for LBT's elimination. "We have no option but to go ahead with an increased VAT. We will have to make requisite changes in the law, following which the official announcement will be made," he said. The CM noted that traders had sought a surcharge of 1% on VAT, but this could not be acceded to since it would not "cover the amount the local bodies were getting through octroi and local body tax".

LBT is the tax imposed by local municipal bodies on the entry of goods into a "local area for consumption, use or sale therein". Barring in Mumbai, LBT has replaced octroi across Maharashtra. The state is projected to earn about Rs 14,000 crore through LBT in the current financial year.

Its revenue from VAT, meanwhile, is reported to be close to Rs 60,000 crore. Mohan Gurnani, president of the Federation of Associations of Maharashtra, said traders are ready "to pay tax, but we want the system to be free of corruption and red tape". He added that a flat 2.5-3% surcharge on different VAT slabs would raise prices of goods considerably, so "we are proposing a 20% hike on each VAT slab".

Traders want the government to calculate 20% of each slab percentage separately and increase the slab individually by that result. But government officials maintained that the formula suggested by traders would put a greater burden on common consumers than the way out being actively considered by the state.

Monday, June 16, 2014

LBT was again in news as there were speculations as it would be scrapped or at least merged with VAT. So, I have researched all the news relating to this to give viewers "One post read all news update"So, if you have missed anything in news regarding LBT, worry not; read below to update yourself about it.The story started with change in government at Center. With NDA getting majority seats in Maharashtra there was a clear understating as to people were fed up with existing government.

12 May 2012

'Vyapari Mitra', a city-based organization of traders, has called a meeting of all traders' associations from 26 municipal corporation areas of the state on May 14 at Pune. The traders would decide the future course of agitation against local body tax (LBT) collection demanding repealing the system.The decision was taken at a meet in the city on Sunday. The date was conveyed to representatives of traders' associations through audio-conferencing.Convener of the organization Ajit Mehta, said, "We will meet at the Poona Chamber of Merchants next week. We have planned to conduct video-conferencing with representatives of apex organizations and some experts. We will decide whether to resort to an agitation or any other mode of protest to compel the state to cancel LBT and octroi systems, as the latter still exists at some places."Scource

16 May 2014

Traders from Pune, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Nanded, Amravati, Solapur, Thane and Sangli have demanded abolition of the local body tax (LBT) from the state. The traders met on Wednesday to discuss the issue."The LBT is causing harassment to traders. Civic officials in many cities are undertaking unnecessary checks and conducting raids on shops as well as houses of traders. This has created fear among the traders. Hence, we want the LBT to be scrapped," said Walchand Sancheti, president of the Poona Merchants Chamber, while addressing a news conference after the meeting.

18 May 2014

The civic body's annual budget plan is all set to go haywire if the state government does scrap local body tax (LBT) ahead of assembly elections, following strong reactions against it from the trader community.The state government fears the wrath of the trader and merchant community that has been building up against LBT might scupper its chances to bounce back to power. Civic officials fear loss of financial autonomy if LBT is indeed scrapped. Source

2nd June 2014

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation's (NMC) economic condition is deteriorating day-by-day ever since the implementation of local body tax (LBT).Source

10 June 2014

Maha CM Chavan asks Mayors to suggest an alternative to LBT.Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today asked the Mayors in the state to consult local traders on an alternative to the controversial Local Body Tax, so that the government can take a decision during the ongoing monsoon session of the Legislature."The government is committed to ensuring that autonomy of the civic bodies remains intact. The Mayors should tell the government whether we should revert to octroi or hand over the recovery of LBT to the sales tax department. With LBT, revenue of civic bodies increased, but there were some hiccups in the implementation of the new tax," he said. The CM however made it clear that rejection of both LBT and octroi can not be accepted. The monsoon session is to end this week.Source

13 June 2014

NASHIK: Traders and civic officials on Thursday vehemently opposed Local Body Tax (LBT) and favoured surcharge on value added tax (VAT) with a facility for direct transfer into the accounts of the municipal corporation. This, they said, would enable the civic body to get tax revenue on daily basis.This decision was taken at the joint meeting of city traders, industrialists and office-bearers of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Thursday. Following instructions from chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, city mayor Yatin Wagh had convened a meeting of traders and industrialists to discuss the issues related to the LBT and an alternative to the present tax system."During discussions, it was clear that there should not be LBT or octroi. But while introducing the new tax system to replace LBT, the state must ensure that it would be simple and convenient to public, traders and industrialists," Wagh said.Source

14 June 2014

Take speedy decision on LBT, corporators urge government. Corporators and social activists on Saturday said that the state government should immediately take a decision about local body tax (LBT) as the prevailing uncertainty is causing heavy financial loss to the civic body.Source

14 June 2014

Local leadership wants octroi to continue in Mumbai: CM. Without naming Shiv Sena and BJP, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said today that the local “political leadership” was not interested in ushering in the Local Body Tax—which replaces octroi—in the megapolis.The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai is controlled by Shiv Sena and BJP. Speaking in the Legislative Council, Chavan said the political leadership and the commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai wanted the octroi to continue, hence LBT was not introduced in the financial capital of the country.Source